Magic, or the potential for magic, is always present in the world of my debut novel, Fantastic America. Even in the bleak times of no magic, there are means (some more abhorrent than others) to work magic. The majority of these means are difficult to achieve, or unpredictable in nature. This is especially true considering most of the knowledge was passed down in spoken form. Writing actual magical instructions poses numerous dangers, some more obvious than others.
Still, magic is powerful, when it works, even in the bleak times. Traditions from all over the world have persisted, despite the dangers their knowledge represented, with wildly different mystical practices. Most of these groups adopted some form of secrecy to maintain their legacy. Few of them retained a full understanding of magic in the absence of flows from other worlds.
The return of those magic flows to the modern world, brings a new dilemma to people who still hold any magical knowledge from long ago. They must decide whether to remain in hiding or reveal themselves to the world at large. For most, enforced secrecy is too integral to their identity, and sustained magic is too new to reveal themselves. However, the best laid plans of mice and men…